Content of The Utopian Vol. 17.4 - 2018

Cover and Contents of June 2018 issue, vol. 17, no. 4. Articles and discussion on the eclipse of class, Donald Trump and fascism, Hamas and national liberation, popular struggles in Barcelona (on site report).For earlier issues see Updates and New Discussion (vol. 17 no. 3, April 2018) and Archives.

Speaking personally, I see my main political task at the moment as keeping our ideas and ideals alive in a political climate that is not conducive to their positive reception by any significant section of the American people.... Specifically, three of the fundamental aspects of our program are completely outside the contemporary political discourse: (1) that our society is fundamentally diseased -- cynical, brutal, unjust, and corrupt – and is incapable of being reformed sufficiently to provide all Americans with a decent and meaningful life; (2) that the solution to this problem lies in a popular revolution, an uprising of the vast majority of the people against the tiny elite that runs our society; (3) that this revolution should aim at establishing a truly democratic, egalitarian, and cooperative social system, what we have called “revolutionary libertarian socialism.”

All too often, progressives have sought to justify their support for the Democratic Party by claiming that Donald Trump is a fascist. Since it is obvious that peaceful street protests continue and trade unions continue to engage in strikes, the underlying argument for this claim can only be that Trump has a secret plan to organize a coup in order to acquire dictatorial powers. Needless to say, there is not a shred of evidence to support such a conspiracy theory.

The more time goes by, the more hardened the Zionist position becomes. So, in my view, the two-state solution is dead. Instead, there is the demand for a democratic secular state in the Palestine, under which all citizens (and languages and religious practices, etc.) have equal rights.--Ron

I strongly condemn the Israeli government and the Israeli right that are repressing and brutalizing Palestinian people. But, that doesn't mean that I support the established organizations that claim to represent them. Many Palestinian people don't support any of those organizations either....--Sylvie

[T]he core of our agreement is: ...We support people in struggle against capitalist bosses, imperialist dominators, and other oppressive forces, even where they do not agree with us (at least at whatever moment in time) about revolutionary anarchism more broadly.... We seek to expose people to our point of view, and believe that people are most open to making connections when they are in struggle.--Rod

[T]he people of Catalonia have the right to determine for themselves whether they should remain a part of Spain or form an independent state.... Yet the struggle for independence is only one of several movements that are able to mobilize huge numbers of protestors. These demonstrations are able to bridge the divide arising for the call for independence. We arrived in Barcelona a few days after International Women’s Day, March 8. On that day, a rally brought 500,000 people on to the streets of Barcelona.

As new movements develop, liberal-reform and Marxist ideas will show new life, but so have utopian and libertarian ideas. We work with this in mind. We...need to reinvigorate the ideals of anarchism/libertarian socialism and the threads in today’s world that may, if we can find them and follow them, lead to a future worth dying for and living in.